Small business owners risk losing out on potential customers by not spending enough time prospecting for new business, says sales expert Sue Barrett in a recent article.
(prHWY.com) June 14, 2011 - Sydney, Australia -- Small business owners risk losing out on potential customers by not spending enough time prospecting for new business, says sales expert Sue Barrett in a recent article.
Rather than spending all their time on social media and online marketing, one of the best ways small business owners can get in touch with their target customers is by picking up the phone. This is because people still enjoy a human touch in business.
According to Barrett, "prospecting is the oxygen that fuels the fire of sales."
Barrett stresses that business owners should be undertaking regular and persistent prospecting in order to generate more sales and business growth. Prospecting for new customers shouldn't be a task to tackle when a business has very few clients. Rather, it should be an activity that is incorporated into the daily routine.
"Too many people charged with growing sales and healthy client relationships leave their sales fitness to chance by not prospecting on a consistent and regular basis," she says.
Barrett provides small business owners with a number of tips for prospecting for new clients.
* Schedule a specific time in the week to prospect and research potential clients.
* Consider making your prospecting calls first thing in the morning to get it out of the way early in the day. This is also often the best time to contact people.
* Business owners should consider when they're at their sales best. They need to be sharp, aware, awake and alert, and be able to listen accurately in order to prospect well and communicate best with customers. They should figure out when they're usually the quickest on their feet and prospect then.
* Persistence is key. Business owners should persistently follow-up the calls they make and always remember to call back when they have promised to do so.
* Measure your efforts. Business owners should conduct a short one minute evaluation of how they think they went at the end of each call. While it may be frustrating at the start, this is a good way to learn what works and what doesn't.
Quick, clever and effective communication is also key to successful prospecting. Business owners need to strike the balance between being conversational and professional, and avoid being fake or too 'salesy.' The easiest way to do this is by
developing a short pitch for the business.
A business pitch should embody all the key messages and features of a business' service or product and communicate them in a sharp and easy-to-follow manner.
By following these simple steps, business owners will find prospecting and developing their client base a lot easier.
Read more of Sue Barrett's article here.
For small business owners who are unsure of how to handle a growing business, the Small Business Marketing Intensive workshop by the Sydney Small Business Centre can help. Run over two intensive, highly interactive days the workshop will crystallise and simplify all the marketing basics and provide business owners with the outline of their simple marketing promotions system.
For more information about the Small Marketing Intensive workshop,visit the
Sydney Small Business Centre website.
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